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The Religious Right And Wrong

2012-05-26T00:40:52Z

If Providence Road Baptist Church's Stacey Pritchard were simply a woman standing by her pastor's belief that gays should be put behind an electric fence and left there to "die out", it would be bad... but one might be able to make excuses for her.

"She's a small-minded individual whose outlook on life has been warped by Pastor Charles Worley, the most unholy man of God to come down the pike since Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church," you might say.

What pushes Pritchard beyond the pale and into our Hall Of Shame is the fact that she's not just spouting wildly unChristian beliefs... but that she's downright snippy when questioned about them despite having clearly agreed to be interviewed by Anderson Cooper, as seen in the clip below.

Cooper somehow manages to not only refrain from lauging at his guest's incredible lack of self-awareness as she all but stomps her foot in frustration and does eyerolls that define the word "epic", but tries his darndest to avoid making the woman look feeble minded... a task he fails miserably at through no fault of his own.

It would be easy to look at Pritchard as little more than a Saturday Night Live sketch come to vivid life... were it not for the fact that she speaks (if poorly) for a faction of the voting public who, given the power, would not only deny gays the right to marry but happily see them caged like animals and left to die. And while it's nice to think that the vast majority of people who will listen to her hate-filled words will walk away agreeing that she belongs in our Hall Of Shame, it's a sad fact of life that still others will nod their head in agreement and greet her heinous beliefs with a shout of "Amen!"

Stacey Pritchard, welcome to the Hall Of Shame. If only it were as well fortified as the electric fence behind which you want to throw millions of your fellow Americans.

Mother Superior

2012-05-21T16:05:36Z

Just when I was starting to feel good — or at least better — about humanity again, they had to go and blow it.

There I was, surrounded by thousands upon thousands of people, all of whom had come together to raise money for a good cause. I was walking through Central Park, riding high on a wave of good cheer brought about by seeing so many different people from all walks of life come together for the 2012 AIDS walk, collectively raising millions of dollars to help their fellow man. It was enough to make one forget, for a blissed-out minute, one’s deeply-held belief that overall, people are only out for themselves and don’t really give much thought to the needs of others.

And then, the kids threw their empty water bottles into the woods. And the incongruity of the action nearly left me speechless. How could people who’d come out for such a great cause do something so antithical to the day? Sure, all causes are not created equal in any person's mind, but how did they justfy walking to raise money to help save lives even as they polluted the planet we call home?

When I say it “nearly” left me speechless, I mean just that. Because anyone who knows me knows that speechless is not generally something I am when it comes to situations such as this one.

“Guys,” I said, gesturing toward the plastic bottles they’d thrown into the grass, “come on. That’s not cool.”

The teens looked at me as if I had grown three heads.

And from behind, an older woman glared at me, saying, “My children are out here doing something good for this world,” she angrily declared. Then, full of righteous anger, she added, “Something for people... like you!” Whether she meant people who are gay (which I am) or people infected with HIV (which I am not), it wasn’t clear. But the tone made it clear that she and her children, marching as part of a church organization, looked at themselves as superior to the poor, pitiful folks they were there to help.

Apparently, she and her delightful brood had zoned out during the opening ceremonies, during which such celebs as Nick Jonas and Dot Marie Jones (of GLEE) spoke of how important it is to educate young people to the fact that AIDS isn’t simply “a gay problem”, or the fact that in 2009, people aged 13-29 accounted for approximately 39 percent of all new HIV infections.

For this woman and her children, taking part in the AIDS walk was nothing more than an opportunity to pat themselves on the back and say, “Look at all the good we do.” They weren’t capable of seeing the irony of their own words or deeds, that even as they helped raise money for a worthy cause, they did a disservice to the literal environment by polluting and the figurative one by furthering the kind of hatred and negativity that kept HIV in the shadows for years.

I could have said all this and more, but instead, I did something I’m not particularly known for; I kept my mouth shut, walking into the grass and picking up their bottles, carrying it to the next available recycling bin... which was about 50 yards away. I ignored the eyes of the woman, her teens and their church group, all of whom were clearly viewing me as one of the poor heathens they’d so generously donated their Sunday afternoon to helping.

And I tried not to smile too broadly when all around me, people applauded my actions. I'll admit, however, that I may have failed on that count.

Silence Isn't Always Golden

2012-05-04T03:30:11Z

Across the country, people have been angrily reacting to what Pastor Sean Harris of the Berean Baptist Church in North Carolina said from his pulpit... but what's gone largely uncommented on is why none of the people in his congregation protested his hateful rant.

For those who've somehow remained unaware, the Pastor found himself in hot water after a sermon in which he urged parents to "punch" male children if they acted effeminate and prevent their daughter from being too "butch" by making sure they looked attractive and "smell like a girl."

Listen to the congregation to the crowd the pastor -- who has issued the standard unapologetic apology -- addresses, and you can hear shouts of approval and laughter. But you know what you won't hear? A single person standing up to stop his homophobic rant.

So while pundits are taking the man of God to task for his unholy declarations, I can't help thinking they're missing the big picture. Because as indignant as many of us are at his remarks, where is the anger directed at the people sitting in that church who agreed wholeheartedly with his words?

It's easy to take to task the man whose words have echoed across the nation, but what about the people whose silence also speaks volumes? If actions truly speak louder than words, what are we to make of people who said nothing while listening to a man advocate such hateful behavior?

Airin’ The Laundry: COMMUNITY Edition

2012-04-05T18:22:33Z

For a few years now, dramedy’s have been all the rage on television. But what works for DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES or NURSE JACKIE isn’t quote so appealing when it comes to real life. Just ask fans of COMMUNITY.

Surely, I can’t be the only one who was kinda bummed to find out that creator Dan Harmon and star Chevy Chase were engaged in an exceedingly nasty feud that involved temper tantrums, public displays if inaffection and the kind of mutual disrespect that we’d all like to think we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy.

When news of the bickering first broke, I couldn’t help hoping it was all some kind of “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” stunt. But that quickly proved untrue, eventually leading to Harmon’s mea culpa, saying he wanted to “acknowledge my mistake and apologize to the fans.”

Unfortunately, you can’t unring a bell.

My household stopped watching 30 ROCK after star Tracy Morgan, during a comedy routine, joked that he would stab his son to death were the boy to be gay. In the weeks that followed, there was much debate in the media, including an op-ed piece from the actor himself insisting, basically, that we pick and choose what to be offended by. In that, at least, he was completely right. My household — aware that this was not Morgan’s first run-in with homophibic remarks — opted to take offense and, despite being big fans of 30 ROCK, express that offense by refusing to watch.

Clearly, the Harmon/Chase dust-up is an entirely different matter, as the nasty remarks being tossed about were flying back and forth between the two men as opposed to at the audience. But that doesn’t mean that for some, a little bit of the magic that is COMMUNITY won’t be tainted by what Harmon described as “the giant far with my name on it that you’ve been inhaling.”

Look, we’ve all read interviews in which a cast member from a hit show says, “I know you hear this all the time, but we really are one big happy family!” And most of us probably laugh, knowing full well that the soundstages on which shows are produced are no different than any other work environment, and that means there are by nature going to be some folks you like and others you don’t. But that little lie allows us to suspend our disbelief and picture the cast hanging out and having a ball behind the scenes when not laboring to entertain us, the viewing audience.

Then again, maybe this is what people really want… the scandal. The gossip. The titter-worthy tales of backstage backstabbing. We’ve become a nation obsessed with dirty laundry, whether it be that of Newt Gingrich or Kim Kardashian.

I, however, wouldn’t mind being kept in the dark about some of the scandals that rock my favorite shows. I don’t want to find myself watching COMMUNITY and wondering how much of Pierce’s dickish behavior is just Chevy Chase being Chevy Chase, or if that snarky line Jeff fired at Pierce is really Harmon taking a cheap shot at the star he has issues with.

How about this: I promise that if the cast and crew of my favorite shows agree to play the “we’re a big, happy family” game until after the show leaves the airwaves, I’ll buy each and every one of the illusion-shattering tell-all books they write after the fact.

This post originally appeared at thetvaddict.com

Are Conservatives Bad For Television?

2012-03-24T00:01:18Z

The following first ran at TheTVAddict.com.

I have a theory: I think Republicans are bad for television.

Specifically, conservative Republicans. And not faux conservatives like Newt “I’ve had as many wives as that dude on BIG LOVE but gay people will ruin the sanctity of marriage” Gingrich, but real conservatives like Rick “no birth control, abortion or gay sex for yo” Santorum.

See, here’s the problem: Conservative Republicans like to tell people what to do. More importantly, they really, really, really like telling people what not to do. Whereas liberals and Democrats tend to be of the mindset that we are adults who can make up our own minds about things (and, potentially, learn from our mistakes), conservative Republicans are of the belief that you need to be dictated to because, gosh darn it, left to your own devices, you’re gonna screw up.

What, you ask, does that have to do with them being bad for television?

Well, answer me this: Do you like television?

Obviously, nobody likes everything on television. Some people (like Barbara Walters) think THE BACHELOR is degrading to women. Others would rather poke their eyes out than sit through an episode of JERSEY SHORE. And absolutely everyone will agree that Jerry Springer’s show is a national disgrace that none of us would ever tune into. (Except, of course, hat its very longevity suggests that a whole lot of us do so regularly.)

The point is that no matter how trashy your taste, television will fulfill your needs. (And then, if you’re watching TWO BROKE GIRLS, make a wildly inappropriate joke about having done so.)

Unless, of course, you want to watch a show like, say, ALL AMERICAN MUSLIM, and a group of conservatives decide that it sends a message they disapprove of and work to get it yanked off the air. Or maybe you find ABC’s new show GCB hysterical… as opposed to the folks at OneMillionMoms.com (you know, the folks who thought Ellen was “too gay” to be representing JCPenney), who want advertisers to yank their support, which is, in essence, saying they want the show gone.

As far as conservatives are concerned, you shouldn’t be allowed to watch shows that they disapprove of. It’s not enough that they take control of their lives and families by turning the channel; They want to take control of your family by making sure that you don’t even have the option of watching something they find offensive.

As the various GOP candidates fight for the right to be the Republican nominee for president, there are a lot of issues being debated. Foreign policy, birth control, how to get the economy back on track. It’s not as if anyone is asking them their positions on regular Parents Television Council whipping-boy Peter Griffin and his FAMILY GUY playmates. But it doesn’t take much to venture down the slippery-slope conservatives live in fear of and realize that a group of people who spend every minute of every day on the front lines of the culture war they created will eventually get around to declaring that little box that resides in every single American home public enemy number one.

All Revved Up

2012-03-06T18:56:00Z

I was hit by a car recently.

Hey, I'm not THAT fat!

The driver did a rolling stop through a red light, looking to her left for on-coming traffic as she turned right. Had she looked both ways — you know, the way every mother tells every child to do when crossing a street — she’d hve seen me in the crosswalk. She was at a red light. I had the right of way.

But the best part of the story is that after hitting me — not hard; I was more scared than scarred — she pulled over… and proceeded to yell at me for having gotten in her way.

Seriously.

As a constant pedestrian, I know from first-hand experience that these kind of man-meets-metal throwdowns happen far too often and, for the most part, only avoid turning into tragedy because the person not tooling around in a ton or more of metal is on the alert.

With that in mind, it might be time to draw up a Pedestrian Bill Of Rights.

I propose that as pedestrians, we should have the right…

… not to be plowed down by those driving along merrily. Seems obvious, but hey, this is a country where Congressman need to be told that it’s not okay to yell at the president when he’s in the middle of a speech.

… to be a bigger priority to those behind the wheel than is the person to whom they are speaking on their cellphone. I realize that it’s very important to find out what’s for dinner or whether little Johnny finally peed in the pot as opposed to Daddy’s shoes, but maybe that can wait until you get home. At the very least use a hands-free device, because let’s face it: It’s tough to look both ways for pedestrians when you’ve got that phone jammed into the crook of your shoulder so you can talk, drive and smoke at the same time. By the way… since most people can’t text and walk down the sidewalk without plowing into someone, what the hell makes some of you think you can do it while driving?

… to not be turned into streetwalkers of the non-sexual variety by homeowners and businesses who refuse to plow their sidewalks after a snowstorm, forcing pedestrians to walk on the roadway to avoid breaking their necks.

… to not be hit by the cigarette butts you flick out the window. Every car in this country has an ashtray. If for some reason yours is unuseable (as in you haven’t emptied it since the first Bush presidency), do what normal people do: put the butt in a can of coke.

… to have some slack cut to us on rainy days. Look, even if you’ve got the right of way as you sit there in your warm car, sipping coffee, why not stop and wave someone through who is struggling to keep their umbrella from turning inside out? And for pete’s sake, don’t be the asshat who sees a puddle and steps on the gas, pulling as close to the curb as possible in an attempt to play “Splash The Walker.” Not cool.

In short, how about having a little respect for the people who are out there walking — whether we’re doing it for the exercise or out of some crazy notion that maybe we’re helping counterbalance the environmental damage caused by your gas-guzzling Hummer. Better still, try literally walking a few miles in our shoes. A few close calls of your own might help you see things differently.

No Girls Allowed!

2012-02-17T13:17:34Z

This meeting of the He Man Woman Haters Club shall come to order!

We have a busy agenda this month, so let's get right down to business. First up? We'd like to congratulate our members from the state of Virginia for passing legislation requiring that women seeking an abortion be vaginally probed against their will. There are some questions as to how we'll manage to get around the fact that doing so basically constitutes rape, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

On a similar note, everyone should take a moment to thank future He-Man Woman Haters Club President Rick Santorum for taking such a brave stance when it comes to the evils of this nation's real problems, most of which involve silly women not knowing what's good for them. He knows that birth control is only used by sinners "seeking license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be" and that if women are put on the front lines of a military operation we He Men, despite hating them, might get all ooey-gooey inside and feel the need to protect them. We are, after all, only human!

We also need to give a big shout-out to all of our members who've been out there doing their darndest to advance the "personhood" agenda (which would basically outlaw all abortions and most contraception), which will go a long way toward making sure that gals stay barefoot and pregnant, the way God -- who is, after all, a man -- intended them to be.

Next, we need to give a big shout-out to some of the little ladies who have helped drive up our membership numbers even while they sabotaged their own kind. That includes Callista "Stand By Someone Else's Man" Gingrich, Michele "I Set The Idea Of A Female President Back A Century" Bachmann, and Arizona Governor Jan "Off With Their Heads" Brewer.

Last, but far from least, we want to give a special welcome to our first Honorary Dude, Ann Coulter, for her recent comment that “all pretty girls are right-wingers.” She does the GOP… er, I mean the He-Man Woman Haters Club proud.

Oscar’s A Grouch!

2012-02-07T19:57:00Z

When you realize that this article is taking the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to task for barring the Muppets from performing at this year’s Oscars, I know what you’ll be thinking. You’ll be thinking, “But is that rude? Keeping them from performing their Best Original Song nominee, ‘Man or Muppet,’ is stupid, sure, and a real buzzkill. But I don’t know about rude.”

Well, it is rude, and I’ll tell you why.

The world is a crappy, unpleasant, dreadful, damn near altogether rotten kinda place. (Don’t believe me? Ride a subway. Ever.) There is good in the world, sure. But there is bad, too, and it isn’t passive aggressive, it’s aggressive aggressive. It seeks at every turn to stink up any good that crosses its path and/or knock it down. And that’s rude. (To the nth degree, in fact.)

But you know what’s ruder still? Making a conscious, calculated decision to keep that which is good — like, say, a wonderful, sweet, funny song like “Man or Muppet” — from people who could really stand to see and hear some good. (That would be us.) And that is what the powers that be behind the Oscars are doing. They say they are worried about time constraints (at the Oscars?!), and making the telecast the most exciting three hours possible (exciting?!). But I ask you, what are they planning that would — that even could! — be more enjoyable than a musical interlude by the Muppets?

There is nothing.

Yet they want to dim the bright lights and broad smiles that the Muppets represent — and turn away their fans young and old. They don’t want to take away from even a moment of Hollywood self-aggrandizing to just make their audience happy. To make us happy for less than three minutes, for Pete’s sake. (The whole song is only 2:57! Although who would object to a “Me Party” mash-up? Oh, right, the Academy.)

You know what? On second thought, you were right from the start. This boneheaded decision by Team Oscar isn’t rude. It’s just plain evil. Go ahead and say it, fancypants telecast producers. I know you want to. Maniacal laugh. Maniacal laugh. Just know, we are not laughing with you.

Want to join the cause? Head over to the Facebook page MONO: Muppets Or No Oscar to voice your opinion!

Words Are Cheap… Own 'Em!

2012-02-01T13:21:54Z

Over the course of any given day, I'm responsible for a lot of words.

As the executive editor of a magazine, an author, the owner of numerous Twitter accounts, a semi-regular Facebooker and an over-enthusiastic gabber, I create a whole lotta words. And for better or worse, I'm responsible for each and every one of them. If words have consequences, and they often do, I believe it is my responsibility to face them.

Which is why (or at least one reason among many) I could never go into politics.

See, a funny thing happens when you run for office, as evidenced by recent events that have unfolded around the various candidates hoping to become the Republican nominee in this year's presidential election. At least three of the people wanting to lead the free world have spent a lot of time denying words that they (or someone on their behalf) have put out there.

Ron Paul would have us believe that he never read his own newsletter, and that he's now shocked -- positively shocked, I tell ya! -- to find out it regularly contained racist, offensive material.

When asked about an ad bashing occasional front-runner Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney denied any knowledge of the spot... despite it ending with the words, "I'm Mitt Romney, and I approved this message."

This week, in the days leading up to the Florida primary, folks in that state began receiving a robocall informing them that Mitt Romney had, while governor of Massachusetts, voted to cut funding for kosher meals in nursing homes... meaning some Holocaust survivors were, according to the ad, forced to eat non-kosher food for the first time in their life. When Gingrich was asked about the ad, released by his campaign staff, his response was to say, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Not that anyone believed him.

Further pressed to comment on the ad, which addresses a claim Gingrich first made earlier in the week when talking to a crowd in Jacksonville, Florida, he refused to comment on the grounds it was "something I don't know about."

It's disturbing to me that three different people running for the most important job in the United States are acting as if their words should be treated about as seriously as those of someone posting from behind the anonymity of a made-up name on Twitter. More unsettling is their complete lack of accountability. I assure you, were I to be running for dog catcher — much less president — I would be sure to personally approve every single poster, press release, commercial or skywriting stunt being sent out into the world by my campaign staff. (We’re not talking aobut Superpac-funded ads here, where there is a supposed disconnect between the candidate and those acting on his behalf.)

We have become a nation that loves nothing more than to lash out from a safe distance. Whether on Facebook or in the comment section of an article posted on the New York Times webpage, we anonymously say things we would never say to the face of the person we're talking about or responding to. Any actor brave enough to venture onto Twitter will quickly learn that the old phrase "If you don't have something nice to say, say nothing at all" has morphed into "If you don't have something nice to say, create a Twitter account using a fake name and say it with out a thought as to pesky things like decency, empathy or even personal responsibility."

Or just launch a political campaign. Same diff.

The Case of the P.O.'d Plaintiff

2012-01-30T22:25:43Z

You don’t have to be a legal eagle to spot a turkey of a case. And man, is the one Claudia Evart has filed against THE PEOPLE’S COURT for the birds!

According to the New York Post, Evart — of the Murray Hill section of New York City — took her smal claims case against a local business to the courtoom of television's Judge Marilyn Milian in the hopes that THE PEOPLE’S COURT barrister would rule in her favor. Having lost the case, Evart is now fighting to keep the episode from ever hitting the airwaves because she's got regrets about having gone public. “It was a nightmare, and I wish I never did it,” she told the paper. Instead of justice, the pissed plaintiff says she only “got aggravation and stress. It was uncalled for and unnecessary."

And, to be blunt, exactly what the show doles out on a daily basis.

For the uninitiated, THE PEOPLE’S COURT is to justice what THE OFFICE is to drama. Folks agree to go on the show and basically be yelled at and humiliated in exchange for the producers paying not only any and all costs associated with the case but an appearance fee. Evart — who is, in an ironic little twist, a paralegal — displays her keen knowledge of the legal system by telling the newspaper, “I just thought I’d win, according to their letter.” The letter does not, of course, specifically say that... and goes on to indicate that anything can happen during the proceedings.

What irks her most of all is that she felt as if the show painted her in a negative light and took away her sense of self-respect. “You have the right to be treated with dignity,” the article ends with her saying. “And I didn’t give that right up,” she adds of the documents anyone appearing on the show must sign before entering what is, in essence, binding arbitration.

Now, we’re not about to defend the actions of the judges who yell at, belittle and generally behave in a way that is about as far from civility as possible. However, folks who go on these shows — for whatever reason — aren’t innocent by any stretch of the imagination, whether they're guilty of the pending charges or not. They have their reasons for taking their small claims case to the airwaves. Some want their 15 minutes of fame. Some just want their legal fees and any penalties levied against them paid by the producers.

But it's unlikely that a single one of them is going into the proceedings without having first checked the show out, and that goes for Evart, too. She made the decision to air her dirty laundry in a very public format knowing full well what she was walking into.

Perhaps in the end, it’s us who will walk away from the courtroom winners. Because if one person reads about Evart's experience and realizes that actual court fees are a small price to pay to retain one’s dignity, our work here will have been done.